PLATE III. 
The common Houfe-Sparroui), 
This bird may be thought too rich in colouri but as I have dbferved in the preface, feme birds 
do not arrive at their full beauty until the third year. Particular marks are found in this portrait, 
which are not diftinguilhed in younger birds. They lay from fivfe td fix eggs, which differ much m 
colour, fome extremely bright, and others are as dark as thofe of a blackbirdi Their nefts I have 
taken almoft as large as that of a crow, and I have found them compofed of filk, linen, and worded 
fragments, ftraw, rulhes, and feathers ; they frequently build under the tiles arid thatch of houfes, 
and fometimes under rook's nefts, and they are alfo allured to build in bottles placed for that pur- 
pofe. They feed on all kinds of grain, and towards the hatveft, make great ravages in the fields of 
corn : at that feafon of the year they flock together in prodigious numbers, and there are boys whofe 
only occupation it is to frighten them away with clappers, adapted for that ufe. 
No. I. 
D 
